UW women open tournament with hard-earned victory

LAS VEGAS – Jazmine Davis scored 30 points to lead Washington over Louisiana-Monroe 81-77 Thursday at the Duel in the Desert tournament.

Washington (5-3) plays DePaul on Friday and Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The Huskies built a 43-30 lead at halftime against Louisiana-Monroe (4-6) despite dealing with foul issues. Davis connected on three three-pointers but was forced to the bench after picking up her third foul.

UW was forced into a short bench with Chantel Osahor (foot) and Heather Corral (knee) out and Mathilde Gilling (flu) unable to play.

Washington continued to extend the lead in the second half, going up 64-48 with 11:28 to play. However, foul trouble returned when Katie Collier picked up two quick ones and Davis was slapped with her fourth.

After a Warhawks run cut the lead to eight, Washington again extended it to 13 with 7:13 to play after Aminah Williams scored in the paint.

From there, the Warhawks reeled off a 12-0 run to get within a point. The Huskies regained a four-point edge after a three-point play from Kelsey Plum.

Louisiana-Monroe would cut the lead to two, but Davis knocked down her sixth and final three-pointer and followed that up with a breakaway layup after a Plum steal. In the final seconds, Davis drained two free throws to seal the victory.

Plum finished with 18 points and Williams and Talia Walton had 10 each.